Ben Bernanke on forgiving student debt:

[Caliman73]

51. The tax rates were set up around the same time, how many Presidents have rolled them back?

When you shift the burden of payment away from the wealthy (as they like), it is incredibly difficult to shift that burden back to those who benefit most from what society produces.

The thinking was that an "educated" populace would produce more. We did. The wealthiest among us also advocated that they (who get most from that educated populace) shouldn't have to pay for any of it. They had the money to influence the thinking around that at both the State and Federal levels. Even Bill Clinton, that leftist, advocated for loans instead of subsidy. Remember "the era of Big Government is over"?

I think tuitions will likely continue to go up, until a stop is put to it by some external force. I would advocate for a cap and a work requirement with low income or vulnerable populations for a number of years in exchange for debt free or very low cost education.